JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL HYGIENE ENGINEERING
Year:2015 | Volume:1 | Issue:4|Papers Count:8

Background & Objectives: Hospital indoor air contains a wide range of airborne pathogenic bioaerosols which have a significant impact on health care staff’ health and welfare. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of ventilation system types on personal exposure of the health care staffs to airborne bioaerosols in the isolation room of a hospital considering the patient bed arrangements and the standing locations of the health care staff.Methods: For personal sampling, the ACGIH recommended method (filtrationmethod) was used. Personal exposures were measured for 5 given types of ventilation system, 2 patient bed arrangements (at a corner and in the middle of room), and 2 different standing locations for the health care staff (standing close to the patient’s bed, and down side section of the bed). Post hoc Dunnett's test was used to analyzethe relationships between the variables.Results: The highest exposure to airborne bioaerosols was observed when the ventilation system was switched off. There were significant decreases in the concentration of bioaerosols after using all types of ventilation systems (Pvalue<0.001). The ventilation capacities of12 air changes per hour showed the best results. No significant differences were found between the concentrations of bioaerosols and the patient bed arrangementsas well as the standing locations of the health care staff toward the ventilation systems (Pvalue>0.05).Conclusion: The most effective ventilation system for decreasing health care staff’ exposures in the isolation room was associated with supplying of air froma circular grill located on the northern wall and exhausting it through a linear slot located on the southern wall (type 1) with the ventilation rate of12 air changes per hour.

Background & Objectives: Job satisfaction is affected by several factors including personality characteristics and job stress. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between personality traits, job satisfaction, and stress-related.Methods: This analytical study was performed among the telecommunications industry workers. 254 persons were randomly selected as the population of the study. Eysenck Personality Questionnaire and job satisfaction and stress questionnaires were applied to gather the required data. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS statistical software.Results: There was an inverse relationship between job satisfaction and job stress. The results of job stress questionnaires showed that 176, 37, and 8 employees were under high, moderate, and low stress, respectively. Overall job satisfaction scores were 14.25 + 10.95. The relationship between job stress and scale E showed a significant positive correlation between two variables so that as the level of introspection increases, people will feel more job stress. The two scale N and L have meaningful relationship with job satisfaction so that the more stable the character, the higher the job satisfaction.Conclusion: It can be concluded that in order for promoting the job satisfaction and reducing the job stress, selfconfidence enhancing skills should be trained to the employees.

Background & Objectives: Silica is one of the most air pollutant in workplaces which long-term occupational exposure to silica is associated with an increased risk for respiratory diseases such as silicosis. Silicosis is an oxidative stress related disease and can lead to the development of lung cancer. This study aims to analysis of endogenous alkanes and aldehydes in the exhaled breath of workers exposed to silica containing dusts.Methods: In this study, the exhaled breath of 20 workers exposed to silica containing dust (case group), 20 healthy non-smokers and 25 healthy smokers (control group) were analyzed. The breath samples using 3-liter Tedlar bags were collected. The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were extracted with solid phase micro-extraction (SPME) and analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC- MS).Results: Totally, thirty nine VOCs were found in all breath samples (at least once). Aldehydes and alkanes such as acetaldehyde, hexanal, nonanal, decane, pentadecane, 2-methle propane, 3-methyle pentane and octane were detected in the exhaled breath subjects. Among the these compounds, mean peak area of acetaldehyde, hexanal, nonanal, decane and pentadecane were higher in the exhaled breath of an case group than control groups (Pvalue<0.05). Conclusion: The use of exhaled breath analysis as well as new media in the occupational toxicology and exposure biomarker assessment studies. It seems that acetaldehyde, hexanal, nonanal, decane and pentadecane can be considered as useful breath biomarkers for exposure assessment of silica containing dust. However, additional studies are needed to confirm thes results.

Background & Objectives: Agricultural mechanization development in parallel of growing this sector treat farmers' health and safety and other persons in farms. Safety training has a vital role in reducting agricultural machinery operators and farmers' occupational injuries. The purpose of this research was study of agricultural expert's knowledge toward safe work with agricultural machinery.Methods: The statistical population of this study was Jihad-Agriculture organization experts in Khuzestan and Ilam provinces (N=493) that 230 of them were selected as the research sample through proportional stratified random method. Data collecting instrument was a questionnaire that its validity was confirmed by a group of extension experts and professors. The Coronbach Alpha coefficient was used in order to determine the questionnaires' reliability. Data were analyzed using SPSS19 software and comparative test.Results: experts' safety knowledge was at a suitable level (Mean=3. 73 from 5 and SD=1. 41) and 72.22 percent of them were assessed medium. Also the means comparison test showed that there is a significant difference among respondents' safety knowledge depending upon education level and whether they have experienced an incident in the field or not. But there was no significant relationship between their safety knowledge and participate in safety training course and whether they observe of work incidents or not.Conclusion: According to the importance of training in the promotion of farmers' safety and inattention of agricultural and health system managers toward safety on farms, it is necessary for implementation of safety training courses for preparing professionals widely and quality and empowered them to participate in safe agricultural extension program.

Background & Objectives: The sound planning is needed for effective implementation of an emergency exercise. The exercise planning is manifested in the scenario development process. Despite the frequent execution of exercises in the industries and the public domain, there is no uniform pattern for designing scenarios. The present paper aims at devising a new pattern based on the project management body of knowledge (PMBOK) approach.Methods: Ten principles of the PMBOK and their substructures were analyzed. The application processes were extracted in two parts; the structural and executive parts. Then, these processes were translated into the its equivalent norms in the emerging scenario development process. Finally, a pattern was proposed for preparing an emergency scenario.Result: The proposed method was developed in a ten step process. Step by step implementation of these processes can help one to make an acceptable scenario. In comparison with the two most common international patterns for developing a scenario, the present method has some unique characteristics. Quality, time, cost and interested parties management are the mentioned properties. In general, the present method has some components that represent more details for users.Conclusions: Using the project management body of knowledge approach one can develop a standard frame for developing an emergency scenario.

Background & Objectives: Quality and effectiveness of safety systems are critical factors in achieving their goals. This study was aimed to represent a method for performance evaluation of safety systems by proactive indicators using different updated models in the field of safety which will be tested in a selected industry.Methods: This study is a cross-sectional study. Proactive indicators used in this study were: Unsafe acts rate, Safety Climate, Accident Proneness, and Near-miss incident rate. The number of in 1473 safety climate questionnaires and 543 Accident Proneness questionnaires was completed.Results: The minimum and maximum safety climate score were 56.88 and 58.2, respectively, and the minimum and maximum scores of Accident Proneness were 98.2 and 140.7, respectively. The maximum number of Nearmiss incident rate were 408 and the minimum of that was 196. The maximum number of unsafe acts rate was 43.8 percent and the minimum of that was 27.2 percent. In nine dimensions of Safety climate the eighth dimension (personal perception of risk) with the score of 4.07 has the lowest score and the fourth (laws and safety regulations) dimension with 8.05 has the highest score. According to expert opinions, the most important indicator in the assessment of safety performance was unsafe acts rate, while near-miss incident rate was the least important one.Conclusion: The results of this survey reveal that using proactive (Prospective) indicators could be an appropriate method in organizations safety performance evaluation.

Background & Objectives: Noise is one of the most detrimental factors in working environments that alongside other physical problems have adverse effects on the mental health of employees. Open plan offices such as banks are under the influence of noise pollution sources, which can have a negative impact on health and comfort of employees. This study aimed to identify the sources of noise pollution in the banks and the level of noise annoyance among their employees.Methods: A-weighted Sound Pressure Level measured in the banks by a sound level meter. Perefferd noise curve (PNC) and speech interference index (SIL) were calculated, prevalence of noise annoyance, effects and clarity of speech were determined using a questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.88 completed by 175 employees of Hamadan banks.Results: Sound Pressure Level equivalent of the banks were 64.11 dB. The average value of SIL index was calculated 54.93 dB and PNC index were calculated 58.17 dB and 48.2 dB for banks working and not-working times, respectively. According to bank staff opinions, the main source of noise pollution was commotion of clienteles that reduce concentration and increase overall effort to understand speech of colleagues.Conclusion: Noise emission in the studied banks had a low frequency band. PNC, and SIL indexes are perfect indexes for describing the acoustics condition and control plan for open office environments.

Background & Objectives: Along with theadvancesinmanydifferent levels of life, interest in measuring quality of life has increased. The aim of this study was to assess quality of life in hospitals of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences.Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed on 300 nurses in hospitals of Hamadan University of Medical Sciences during 2012-2013. To determine the quality of life, the WHO questionnaire (WHOQOLBREF) was used. Data was analyzed using SPSS software version 16.Results: The mean cores on physical and mental health dimensions in men were more than women (Pvalue<0.05). The lowest and the highest rate of quality of life were among dialysis and coronary care unit staffs, respectively. The average scores on the physical dimension was higher in singles than married, however, means cores of the social and psychological dimensions were higher in married.Conclusion: The highest rate of quality of life was related to physical, psychological, social, and environmental dimensions. So, it is recommended that managers take the necessary actions in order to improve the quality of life and health of the people of the community.